Pilot project with autonomous New Holland T4s

New Holland Agriculture has partnered with the largest family-owned winery in the world to trial a number of T4.110F vineyard tractors fitted with NHDrive autonomous technology. The focus of the pilot project at the E. & J. Gallo Winery vineyard in California, USA, is on gathering agronomic and operator feedback on the use of this technology in everyday vineyard activities.

New Holland says the data will provide real-world information on the full range of possible automated and autonomous applications. These include operator assisted autonomy, where NHDrive supports the operator in the cab, supervised autonomy, where the operator will be in the field and supervises unmanned vehicles, and ultimately full autonomy, with no local supervision.

The company unveiled its autonomous solution at the 2016 Farm Progress Show, and to date, has previewed NHDrive on the T7 HD and T8 tractor ranges. The company says the new pilot program with the T4.110F demonstrates that the autonomous solution is applicable to the brand’s entire range of tractors.